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Keithley's Korner: Gillilands' are walkin' on faith to bring back River Crossing

Stepping out on faith is nothing new to Tim and Julie Gilliland, new owners of the River Crossing Events Center, which is now under renovation to become the new future home of Church Out of Church among other things.

"We don't want to be a typical church," Julie told listeners on the radio this week. "A long time ago we realized that a great number of people that need encouragement aren't sitting in a church pew. They're out there in the community and part of the mission of our church is to minister to them and contribute to this community however we can."

Tim said that Church Out of Church will be the first tenant for the remodel and move-in which is scheduled for completion in December.

"Right now we're getting the building up to code, including putting in additional stairwells to the third floor, plus putting in an elevator," he said. "The building has essentially been a shell so there is plenty of work to do right now."

The third floor is envisioned as the sanctuary for the church. It has large windows throughout with a scenic view, high-above the Rio Ruidoso. You can envision the congregation listening to a sermon with the sound of the river water underneath.

"We weren't looking for and didn't need to move — we are happy with where our church was meeting now (at the Flyin J Ranch)," Julie said. "This building just came to us — we had people that kept telling us to look into it."

The Gillilands' have the third floor mapped out as the potential for bringing more convention-type events to midtown, but it's the future of the second floor that needs your input.

"We've discussed it becoming a food court in a mall-like setting," Julie said. "But we really haven't come up with the perfect idea yet as to what it should become. We're hoping that the community will join in and help us develop it together."

With 30,000 square feet of space, there's room for plenty of ideas.

Tim Keithley is the host of the New Mexico in the Morning radio show Monday-Friday, 9 to 10 a.m., on KRUI 1490 AM, KWMW 105.1 FM and 99.1 FM or live streaming at www.mtdradio.com.